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“Oh, he doesn’t mean that to me. He’s just… He did…”
Her smile turned playful. “He’s got you.”
“No, he doesn’t. I just…”
“Argue all you want. You’re wasting your breath.”
While still wearing her knowing smile, she left the ice pack on my neck and lifted my wrist. She looked up at the clock on the wall, studying the second hand with two fingers pressed on my artery.
She nodded. “You’re stable now, too. I’m going upstairs to order a few meals from Charlotte, okay? He’s good now. He’ll be awake any second.”
“Any second,” I repeated. “But what do I do?”
She kissed my forehead. “Whatever it is that your heart tells you.”
After she left, I turned to Matéo, my gaze falling to our entwined fingers. The callouses on his hand registered on my palm, skin hardened from years of manual labor scraping my flesh. Its ruggedness was a welcome feeling, tugging me into a world where only the two of us existed.
No more vampires. No more wars. No attacks.
Just me and Matéo.
Just me and the Black Wolf.
I closed my eyes.Come back.
His fingers tightened around my hand, forcing my eyes open. And what I found shocked me as much as it aroused me.
Both his eyes were a burning red.
Their intensity drew from me a dreadful pain, the kind of loss that one would only suffer up close and personal, an ancient hatred that lingered just beneath the surface against those who did the dirty deed.
And though I didn’t quite understand it, I still empathized with it.
I squeezed his hand, holding his gaze for as long as I dared. Which ended up being a lot longer than either of us could have anticipated. Neither of us blinked until we did so simultaneously, the movement appearing to break us out of our staring match.
His thumb traced the ridges of my knuckles. “Thought I wouldn’t make it.”
Icy smoke clouded his left iris. Soon, the clouds broke and the pale glacier blue returned.
He blinked slowly, languidly. “I ran as fast as I could.”
“What happened, Matéo?”
“I got jumped at the cabin.”
I frowned. “They came back?”
“Yes, they came back with their ringleader, Lars.”
“He’s been causing a fuss in the tavern lately.”
His eyebrows arched. “Has he?”
“It’s been sort of…” I looked away from him, unsure of my thoughts. What was real anymore? What was safe? “Everything has been unstable.”
“Your inn’s neutrality is coming apart, Rose. I’m worried about you.”
I stared blankly at him. “You’re worried about me?”
